Last week, city council relaxed regulations to give mobile food vendors a better shot at surviving in the city. Under the previous rules, they could not park within 50 metres of restaurants and could only stay in one place for three hours at a time, rules which critics said made it impossible to run a viable business in the dense downtown core.

Now, food trucks have to stay 30 metres away from brick-and-mortar restaurants and can stay in one spot for five hours.

The new rules come into effect today (May 14), but the merriment started yesterday with what Mayor John Tory called Food Truck Freedom Day. A squad of trucks set up outside of City Hall over the lunch hour, serving everything from smoked meat sandwiches to roti.

It was a chance to change up your lunch-hour routine, and to be served food by some familiar faces. We spotted Tory himself, wearing an apron branded for the occasion, handing out lunch from the Caplansky's truck.